Salzburg Easter Festival Rocked by Behind-The-Scenes Scandal

According to the New York Times and UK Independent, The Salzburg Easter Festival in Austria has been plagued by scandal just weeks before the week-long Easter music festival is set to begin.

According to The Independent, "The week-long Easter festival has been shaken to the core after an apparent suicide attempt by its technical chief and the disappearance of the director amid allegations of a massive fraud totalling over €2m (£1.7m)."

Additionally, The Independent reports that Austrian state prosecutors are in the process of investigating eight people suspected of deception and embezzlement connected to the festival.

These new developments come just months after the festival's executive director, Michael Dewitte disappeared "without trace" according to The Independent. The Independent states that "Mr. Dewitte is alleged to have illicitly channelled thousands of euros of sponsors' donations into foreign bank accounts; fiddled expenses; and paid for services which were not actually used by the festival."

The New York Times reports that although The Salzburg Easter FestiVal May have been defrauded of nearly $3 million, it is still scheduled to open on March 27th.

The Salzburg Easter Festival begins each year on the Saturday before Palm Sunday with the opera premiere and lasts until Easter Monday, when the opera is traditionally performed a second time. Six evenings of three concerts each with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra are scheduled in between. Special concerts and the so-called Kontrapunkte will also take place, some of them featuring soloists from the Berlin Philharmonic and other ensembles, and they will be relevant to the opera and orchestral concerts.